Common Sense: BtS
by AeroJester203
Summary: Side-story to Common Sense. Some scenes just don't make it into the main story, so this is a place for those scenes to be showcased. Ever wonder how something went in the background of Common Sense? Find out here! Guidelines for requests in the first chapter.
1. Weighing the New Recruits

**First things first, this covers events coinciding with Common Sense, so you oughta read that first, at least up to the chapters indicated, if you want things to make sense/want to avoid spoilers.**

 **You caught up? Good.**

 **I decided to start this little side project of covering certain parts of background events involving other characters via oneshot. Hence the name, Common Sense: Behind the Scenes. It'll be mainly by request, so if you want me to cover certain things, PM me. If you're going to leave a review, please don't make it solely a request, as I'd like to know how I'm doing. Every bit helps.**

 **Understand that there are certain requests that I won't do, either because I plan to explain in the story, it'll be spoilers, or it can be explained in a few sentences or paragraphs. The latter, I might make note of those that I get and make a cluster of Omake-like BtS parts as a chapter.**

 **Oh yeah, also, no chapter numbers, as these things might possibly start to get out of order as requests come in, showing events that happened before previous entries.**

 **With that out of the way, on with the story!**

 **Location: Between Chapter 19 and 21**

* * *

Weighing the New Recruits

Giovanni sat in his chair on a helicopter headed to the Team Rocket Academy where they had field agents, among other people, trained. Persian was taking a nap a few feet away on a plush carpet that the leader had an HQ grunt bring from his office.

He'd received a call from Team Rocket's human resources head, Wendy, saying that the new recruits Squad 13 brought were on the way to the academy, and that one of them seemed to want a loan instead of to join Team Rocket, from what she had been told.

That one person was why he was visiting in person, but he'd told Viper to set the entire group of five aside after he got to his office over there. Occasionally, Giovanni liked to stay at the academy for a few days at a time to check on progress, make sure things were running smoothly, and (rarely) inspect new recruits. Cortez wanting a special deal just gave him the perfect excuse.

He could trust Matori to tend to the paperwork and reports while leaving any interesting ones to Domino. His right-hand agent could make decisions on those or contact him for any urgent business.

Giovanni swirled a glass of wine in his hand before taking a sip. While he usually preferred aged whiskey, and had a high tolerance, he had a three hour trip from headquarters to the academy and he didn't want to take any chances.

Making his first appearance to new recruits inebriated would be a terrible impression of both him and the organization.

* * *

Viper, the drill sergeant of the Team Rocket Academy, looked at the line of new recruits. The man stood nearly six feet tall in a completely black uniform with no gloves and a red R emblazoned on the front and had his hair shaved aside from a purple Mohawk. Bulky muscles filled his large frame, and he stood with his arms folded behind his back while his narrowed eyes swept the four teens and adult. Even though Cortez was actually taller than him, he had no problems with projecting his aura of authority.

Having received orders of what to do with them, and read the analyses from Agent James that Matori copied and sent him, he had two assistants behind him.

"Greetings, recruits," he stoically started. "I am Viper, and as of right now, I am your drill sergeant, your commanding officer, and your head instructor, second only to the Boss himself. Do what I say, and your stay here will be brief. Fail or go against my orders, and I will take my time to make sure you don't do it again."

After scanning the five of them for any signs of weakness, and finding very little as each of them covered it up in different ways, he glanced over his left shoulder.

"You take the couple to the quartermaster to get measured for uniforms, Red Team," Viper ordered.

Pearl and Hart seemed surprised that he'd caught on, but it was rather obvious since they were standing closer than strictly necessary. Their body language practically screamed that they'd come together. The only thing that would make it more obvious is if they'd held hands for support.

His first assistant beckoned them to follow with a curt, "This way."

Hart grabbed onto Pearl's hand and led her along to follow, clearly not wanting to get separated.

'Oh, speak of the devil,' the drill sergeant noted as they passed by. 'A protector, it seems, from the rather aggressive look he just shot me.'

Still, he focused on the other two teens and said, "You two will be fitted for uniforms later. Right now, you have a tactics course to get to. I'm telling you right now, you're going to be separated to different teams once your aptitude and personalities are screened for your partners."

Glancing over his other shoulder, he commanded his other assistant, "Make sure they get there on time. You know how Proton feels about latecomers."

Looking down at his clothes, Dalton asked, "Are you sure it's okay to just go in like this?"

"He doesn't care," the assistant answered while leading them away. "Just don't disrupt his class and pay attention."

Viper stared down Cortez, who stared back, "You're coming with me. Are your Pokémon healed from their loss at that tournament?"

"All except Kangaskhan," the bartender answered. "She got a broken wrist and ankle."

"Then follow me. We're leaving your Pokémon with our medic to get healed, and then you're going to battle some of the Pokémon we have here at the academy to test their fighting ability."

He could hear the other man following him, so he didn't bother turning around to check.

* * *

Giovanni arrived at his office with Persian at his side, the feline Pokémon's carpet already transferred to the leader's quarters on the academy. He was delighted to see that his office was as clean and organized as he'd left it with some paperwork on the desk.

'Knowing Viper, he's gathering the five up right now,' the leader thought while sitting down in his chair. 'Proton's tactics course should be finished by now, so I'll probably be seeing those two first.'

He bided his time by examining the papers on his desk, seeing Dalton and Brook's personality profiles, along with a picture of each of them that would be destroyed later for security purposes. The leader's eyes narrowed as he looked at the brunet's picture. His face looked familiar, one he'd seen quite a few times. The only difference was the color of his eyes from the other.

With that in mind, he speed-read the two profiles before discreetly sticking them in a drawer within his desk. He wanted to confirm something once Dalton got in, and it wouldn't work if he saw his own profile on Giovanni's desk.

Having done that, and memorized the information, he began searching through the other files on his desk, containing various half-formed squads ready for new partners. Some files were thicker than others, having agents with a longer history that lost their partners to dysfunction or resignation. A few already had partner Pokémon owned by the single trainee, while most did not.

A knock sounded from his door, and he replied, "Come in." Persian sat up to look over the desk, expression curious, but Giovanni didn't look up from his work.

The door opened, and Brook stepped inside before politely closing the door behind him. His expression was neutral, borderline apathetic as he stepped forward and stopped two steps away from the desk.

Giovanni looked up from his papers and got ready to run his little test on the teen. The one that he did for all recruits he met personally.

"Ah, you must be Brook." He extended his hand while leaning forward slightly in his chair, "A pleasure to meet you."

Brook looked at the offered hand, and though his expression didn't change, Giovanni could tell that he was measuring various factors and consequences of the deed. He was about to retract when the teen tentatively stepped forward and offered his own hand to complete the gesture.

The leader measured the teen's grip. He could judge a lot about a person from their handshake. Brook's grip was as half-hearted as his alleged alliance to Team Rocket. But it seemed almost deliberate, the loose hold of his fingers, his limp wrist bending at the slightest provocation from Giovanni's own. He restrained a sneer and retracted his hand.

Brook seemed to be making himself seem weaker than he was so that he would be passed over for higher positions. A poor first impression was hard to recover from, and he wanted Giovanni to see him as weak. It matched with James' description of him not wanting to go too far in to Team Rocket.

"Now, once your profile is evaluated, you'll be matched to another prospective field agent and the two of you will be put on either the red or blue team to undergo physical training alongside other lessons such as the tactics course you attended just a while ago," Giovanni explained.

"On that note, about your Pokémon," he continued, noticing Brook almost imperceptibly tense up, "do you want them to be transferred to Rocket-masked Poké Balls? They are linked to a private server of ours, and thus cannot be tracked to their holder. In addition, those at headquarters can warp them back to our possession if lost, and all it takes is a call or visit to collect them."

"If it's all the same," Brook replied, his face apathetic, but his tone respectful, "I'd prefer to keep them in their current Poké Balls."

"Very well," the leader easily agreed. "Though, I should warn you, with your Pokémon still in their regular Poké Balls, your license is at risk if you or your Pokémon get caught by the police and we can't call them back to headquarters for you to reclaim."

Brook didn't change his expression or tone as he politely replied, "Then I suppose I'll just have to not get caught, sir."

Giovanni chuckled, "I believe I will enjoy your time with us, Brook. Welcome to Team Rocket."

The black-haired teen politely inclined his head and left. The boss mused that he would mainly keep Brook at Grunt level so that it wouldn't be any great loss if and when he quit the team.

Every army needed expendable troops, after all. Brook would be one such agent whereas his partner would be able to gain strategic experience from a like-minded individual that would carry over when the teen inevitably quit.

He didn't consider that Brook might get caught, since the teen demonstrated that he was cautious in his tentative affiliation with the organization. Such vigilance wouldn't allow him to get caught by anything except the most expert means.

'A shame if we can't win his loyalty,' Giovanni decided. 'He could go far here.'

* * *

Brook let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding once the door closed behind him. It would've been easier if the leader had been a scary, evil sort of boss. The man he'd seen looked like he could seamlessly fit in with the upper class of society and didn't give any indication that he had any nefarious schemes.

At the same time, Brook felt like every word, move and minute change of his expression had been under close watch. It had been the most nerve-wracking experience of his life, and only years of apathetic attitude let him keep his face mostly under control without any sweat.

If the blue-haired teen was an adept, the leader was a years-long master of reading and manipulation of people.

Still, some part of his mind thrilled at the danger of entering such a game. But he ruthlessly squashed that feeling and walked off to the Blue Team barracks. He'd been assigned to an empty room and would be receiving or taken to his roommate once they picked him a partner.

'This is only a temporary arrangement until I can figure out a way to get out of it while still keeping me and my Pokémon safe.'

On the way to his dorm, he blinked in surprise as a group of four Pokémon passed right by him. A batch of Squirtles with "R" branded armbands on their limbs stared back at him, looking at his street attire before turning to each other. The rightmost of their group murmured something to the others before they nodded in agreement.

One of them retracted their limbs and pulled it out again with a notepad and pencil in his grip. After scribbling something in the page, the Water-type tore out the page and handed it to Brook. Once that was done, the four Pokémon moved on while the writer put the notepad away in his shell.

Bemused at their rather organized actions, Brook looked down at the paper in his hands and his eyes widened when he read an actual message on it.

 **"Good luck, recruit."**

For the sake of his sanity, Brook crumpled up the paper to throw away later and spent the rest of the day convincing himself that the past few minutes hadn't happened.

* * *

Giovanni soon heard another knock at his door and bid his next visitor to enter.

Dalton came in, looking rather confident, but still remaining polite in the face of the leader.

"A pleasure to meet you," Giovanni greeted once the teen was in front of his desk. "If I could have your name to put on record?"

Truthfully, only the first names were kept in the records for secrecy's sake, along with no pictures. And the Human Resources department already had that information, but he decided to leave it ambiguous in hopes of acquiring information.

"Dalton Adams," the teen reported with a shrug, confirming the boss's theory.

Giovanni reached forward to shake his hand, "Ah, I've heard good things about you from Agent James."

"Did you?" he asked while readily extending his hand to complete the gesture. "I thought he was just a scout. Doesn't he report to some sort of Human Resources head?"

The leader measured the prospective agent's grip as he answered, "Ordinarily, they do, but he wasn't a scout. James is one of the two members of Squad 13, my current best team of field operatives."

'A firm grip, but carefully held back to not be firmer than mine,' Giovanni observed before breaking the handshake. 'This one has dealt with leadership before, but as a follower, not a leader.'

"James was under evaluation along with the other members of his team by participating in the Underground Tournament and bringing in as many Pokémon and recruits as they could," he finished.

Dalton whistled, "How flattering. A top-tier agent thought I was good enough to make it here."

"I'm curious about your reasons for joining our organization," Giovanni stated, letting the unspoken request hang in the air.

The brunet shrugged, "Way I see it, you and your forces regularly run circles around the police if you're so deeply rooted in Kanto. World's a-changing, and I figure I might as well help for a piece of the pie."

Giovanni gave a small smile, such simple motivations often made for an easily moldable agent.

"One last question: Were you aware that your younger brother joined our organization a few years back?" the leader asked.

Dalton's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Lil' Burt? Well, whaddya know. Didn't think daddy's little boy had it in him." He chuckled, "Haven't seen him since father dearest and I had a little disagreement about my choice in path."

"I suspect there's a story behind that, but I won't pry," the leader replied. "The main point is that I have a question about your brother."

"Sure, shoot."

"He worked for the police for a time before joining Team Rocket, and I've kept him under close surveillance at headquarters as an errand runner. From what you know of him, is he likely to be a spy?"

Dalton screwed his face in thought before answering, "All due respect, Boss, but it'd be pretty pointless for him to maintain a cover for…?"

"Two years."

"Two years," he finished. "If he's right at HQ, even an errand boy sees and hears enough to where he could report and testify. If he were here on a police assignment, unless you have a tracker on him, I woulda given it three months before he found an escape route, knocked somebody out to steal evidence and went back to daddy with his testimony and the base's location. The Elite Four would come a-knocking, and anybody who didn't get away would be locked up, and your identity, or at least description, would be revealed."

"I see… Thank you for your input, Dalton. I'll certainly take that into consideration. You may return to your assigned room until you receive a partner and begin your training for field work. Oh, and keep your gloves on by all means once you get your uniform. They'll serve more practical use than the standard issue set. That is all."

"You got it, Boss."

* * *

Dalton closed the door behind him as he left and looked around to make sure he was alone outside the office before pumping his fist in victory with a quiet "Yes!"

With that celebration done, he turned to leave while casually humming to himself.

'That meeting went great! I made a good impression on the leader around here, and who woulda thought James was actually an elite? I knew there was more to him, but I never expected something like that.'

His grin turned into a smirk, 'And lil' bro is here too, even longer than me. Wonder what daddy dearest did to piss him off enough? Can't wait to see him again and ask. He owes me for not throwing him under the bus like he did me.'

"It's about time for a family reunion," he muttered. "Five years is a long time to stay mad at somebody."

* * *

A rather loud and rude thudding knock came next, and Giovanni allowed the next one to come in after a brief pause.

"Ah, you must be Cortez," he greeted upon seeing the large man. Cortez was actually a little bit taller than Giovanni, but he paid it no mind and didn't bother getting up from his chair. There were other ways besides strength to control a situation.

Cortez stoically moved up to the desk and cut straight to the point, "I heard that you could help me move my failing bar out of Gringey City. That true?"

"Indeed," Giovanni replied, not bothering with a handshake. He knew the gesture would be refused. Brook carefully metered out how much trust he could give, while the man before him actively didn't trust him.

"We give loans out to those who need more money than the signing bonus to Team Rocket can provide," the boss explained. "I was informed of your situation, and I believe we can come to an arrangement that will benefit all involved."

Cortez's brow furrowed slightly, and he prompted, "And that would be…?"

"Your loan will cover all the expenses of moving your business to Vermillion City, along with an allowance for any renovations or new items you may need. A port town, especially a busy one like Vermillion will be abuzz with sailors and all sorts of travelers, Trainers included, carrying information. The bar will serve as a perfect place to gather information, and that's where you'll come in.

"Your job will be to provide information, rumors and stories from your patrons. No piece of information is too small. Even tall tales can have a grain of truth, and we have plenty of agents at HQ with little to do as they wait for niches in our organization.

"In addition, you'll be on call to provide reinforcements to various squads with your Pokémon for certain operations. You'll receive a portion of whatever profit from the mission."

"I want a mask to wear while on missions, so I don't get recognized in case I have to tangle with law enforcement. And as soon as I raise enough money from my missions and job to pay back the loan, I'm quitting," Cortez stated. "I don't want to work here longer than I have to."

"Done," Giovanni replied. "I'll waive your dues since you're already an informant and have a career that'll pay your living expenses. Once you've accrued enough to pay off your debt, you're free to go after a memory wipe of your deeds while working for us. We can't have any secrets slipping out after you're discharged, after all."

The bartender didn't like the sound of that, but internally granted that he wouldn't want to remember working for them anyway. Instead, he asked, "What's the interest rate?"

"Nothing."

He didn't react at first, but eventually said, "Excuse me?"

"There is no interest rate," the leader repeated. His expression hardened, "I've had my own problems with banks and loan sharks and abhor their money-grabbing ways. They compound debt in the guise of legality without any consideration for problems that might arise for the debtor in trying to repay it. I am at least open about my dishonest ways."

Giovanni brought himself under control, "In any case, paying back your loan to us will be a straightforward affair, as you already have several things to tend to with your new bar."

At Cortez's highly skeptical look, he added, "If you _must_ believe there is a string attached, think of your services and information rendered to Team Rocket as your interest rate. Answer when we call and there won't be any problems. I'll hire you an assistant to look over your new bar while you're away on missions as well as bring you there when you're called."

Extending his hand, Giovanni asked, "Do we have a deal?"

Cortez looked at the offered hand, and seemed reluctant even though there appeared to be no attempt to double-cross him. But he soon reached out and shook Giovanni's hand. His grip was strong, almost crushing, but the leader matched the strength with an affable smile.

"Pleasure doing business with you. I'll call in your assistant and have him take you to our headquarters' financial branch. They'll iron out a contract. Please wait outside the office, and he'll be here momentarily."

After Cortez was gone, Giovanni took the phone from his desk. He knew just who to have Matori call.

* * *

Cortez sat outside the leader's office, thinking over the deal he'd just made. Everything he wanted out of the deal with an admittedly fair trade of paying it back. No apparent tricks (though he would make sure to check the contract carefully for fine print), and his bar would be saved.

The only visible downside was that he'd have to help them in their criminal acts. But even that wasn't forever, as his current benefactor seemed perfectly willing to just let him go. The idea of a memory wipe didn't really sit well with him, but the thought of going free and having to know that his bar was gotten through criminal means disgusted him even more.

He didn't have much time to think it over, as a figure made of light appeared in front of the door he'd just exited. The light faded to reveal a young man with an Abra clinging to his back like a sloth, apparently asleep.

The younger man had blond hair in a somewhat short mass of curls with brown eyes and a dark tan over his exposed skin. His body was trim with little muscle, but hardly any fat. A sunflower yellow short-sleeve shirt had its buttons open to reveal a sky blue T-shirt over his chest, and he had worn blue jeans with exceptionally dirty tennis shoes.

Tilting his head as if he heard something, the blond turned around and spotted Cortez, his face lighting up, "Ah!"

He stepped forward with his hand extended, "Hey! You must be Cortez. I'm Gregory, traveler, 'porter, and now assistant bartender! My part of the business is to teleport you wherever you're needed, and I was picked specifically since I can take you anywhere in Kanto and Johto with Abra here."

"Ab…ra…" the Pokémon mumbled in what could've easily been sleep talking.

"Not a very active fella, as you can see," Gregory chuckled. "But the little guy comes through whenever I need 'im. He can sense things around him with his telepathy, even while sleeping, how cool is that? When I need to go somewhere, he pulls the memory of the location from my mind to visualize it and POOF! I've been everywhere around here, it's my job to map out all of the continent in my mind with my travels so that I can take agents anywhere and everywhere by the dozen if we need to get somewhere for a big mission quickly, like the St. Anne. There's about a dozen other guys and gals like me in the org, but I'm the only one this side of Mt. Silver that's been at it for so long. Anyway, the Boss filled me in on your little situation, and I'm gonna take you to HQ for you to get your loan filled out, if you'll just take my hand."

Cortez's eye twitched as he looked at the sunny man before him. He took Gregory's hand simply in the hope that it would shut him up.

He got his wish for about the half-second it took to warp him to an unfamiliar waiting room, but the younger man kept on talking to him, asking all sorts of questions about himself while they were sitting in their chairs. The man at the desk simply took out a set of earphones and put them on while turning up the volume on a CD player he pulled out, much to Cortez's envy.

* * *

It was about another half hour until Giovanni's last appointment for the day arrived. There was a polite knock, so he assumed that it was Pearl who knocked, from what he'd heard of the two.

"Come in," he called.

The door opened, and Hart came in first, Pearl beside him as she closed the door, and both teens walked forward. They were in their Red Team uniforms now, Hart having torn the sleeves off of his while keeping the gloves.

Once they were lined up in front of his desk, Giovanni said, "Care to explain what happened to your uniform, Hart?"

"The tattoo stays where I can see it," the blond replied in a tone that said he'd just tear off the sleeves of the next uniform if the leader had a problem with it.

"If you insist. It makes no difference to me. How are you finding the accommodations here?"

Pearl nodded, "The training's pretty tough for me, but I'm pushing through it."

"Forgive me," Giovanni excused, "I should've been more specific. What I meant was, are you enjoying your stay?"

That statement caught the couple off guard, and the leader kept his face neutral as he continued, "I heard something about your troubles from the agent that recruited you."

A half-truth, as James had only told him of _potential_ troubles the two had, but he didn't need to know the full story. People could be cruel, and Hart's eyes presented him as the perfect target for close-minded insults. And he figured a litany of insults were directed towards Pearl for dating Hart.

"You have my deepest sympathy. Eliminating such discrimination is one of my premier goals in the world's changes."

After all, if his new world order allowed for such a thing, somebody else could raise up an army to try combating him the same as he did now. Although what he could see of the teens' story _did_ make him wish them to find happiness in that world.

"You ever go through it?" Hart asked.

Pearl harshly whispered at him for asking such a personal question, but Giovanni held up a hand to let her know it was all right.

"Of a sort," he answered. "The man you see before you started out as a boy with ideas. He tried to make it in the world, first as a Trainer to gain notoriety before entering the world of business. But he grew tired of being exploited—being looked down upon."

Persian leaned his head into his master's lap, and Giovanni absently started petting him, "That boy fled into the underground and recruited anybody that he could, giving them food and money from partaking in Pokémon battles above and below in exchange for help with moving up in the world. What started as one homeless man, two teens that lived off the streets and myself grew over time into the empire you see before you."

Thinking back to those times wasn't easy. Only a handful of agents and the four Admins knew of Team Rocket's early development. And only he and Proton knew the whole truth of the time before the true emergence of Team Rocket.

Still, he hadn't lied once, and could see that he'd gotten through to the teens before him by telling them of his toils.

Both Pearl and Hart looked surprised that he'd confided in them. While he didn't expect them to become loyalists overnight, he wanted them to see that he earnestly wished them the best.

"Though I doubt it'll be the case, be sure to report any discriminatory behavior to Viper," Giovanni instructed. "Such disreputable actions are not tolerated in Team Rocket."

"Uh… sure," Hart responded at length.

The leader smiled and extended his hand, "I hope you enjoy your time here with Team Rocket."

Hart reached forward first, his grip rather unsure, but still firm enough for a proper handshake. Pearl was a bit more confident, and Giovanni could see that what he'd said resonated with her. If the blond wasn't convinced on his own over time, then he was sure that Pearl would help to convince him.

Sure, he truly wished for discrimination to be eliminated, but the methods he employed to bring about change faster tended to be a tough pill to swallow for some. Hopefully, Hart would see that the end justified the means. Once his rule was cemented, Giovanni would work on stamping out crime. He already had a standing order with his agents Officer rank and above, along with Squad 13, to have Pokémon poachers captured and recruited or dropped off at police stations. The fact that it eliminated the competition was a nice bonus as well.

'On that note, with my recruitment drive going full force, soon I'll be able to send informants to feel out other regions,' he thought as the two teens left.

* * *

Pearl and Hart were already on their way back to their room to rest before being called to their next lesson.

"He's… not how I expected," Hart noted.

"Me neither," Pearl replied. "I mean, that guy back at Gringey City told us the leader planned to remove discrimination, but I didn't think he actually cared about his agents. Then again, loyalty like the guy seemed to have doesn't come from nowhere, I guess."

"…You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"Nobody's given us… one of _those_ looks."

Pearl's eyes widened as she thought back to the few hours she'd spent at the Team Rocket Academy, "…You're right. Granted, nobody really knows us here, so it could just be neutral, but even that's… We could have friends."

While both teens had accepted that they only needed each other, that didn't necessarily mean they didn't _want_ to interact with other people.

Hart's face screwed up in doubt. He'd thought that more than a few times in the past when it was just him, but it'd never come true before. "We'll see."

"This could _actually_ be a good place for us," Pearl replied. "I mean, I'm pretty sure more people here are scared of Viper than of you."

The blond gave her a deadpan look, and she giggled while pressing a kiss to his cheek, "Oh, you _know_ I only have eyes for you."

Hart gave a half-smile back.

* * *

Giovanni gave them a while to get away from the other side of his door before standing up. He'd spent the time looking over the personality profiles on his desk and already picked out a partner each for Dalton and Brook.

'Time to go oversee the other recruits' training,' he decided. 'My paperwork's done for now, and seeing the leader boosts morale among them. It reminds them of what they're training for.'

The leader turned to Persian, "Coming? Or would you prefer to rest for a time?"

The feline Pokémon thought it over for a bit before curling up on his rug.

"As you wish."

* * *

 **And done! I hope you all enjoyed this first installment to the Behind the Scenes side-story of Common Sense! If you have any requests you can think of, feel free to PM me, or leave them at the end of your review. Please remember the note at the top, and don't leave a review that's just a request. I want to know how I'm doing.**

 **See you when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


	2. Forged by Pressure

**So, this chapter was inspired by a guest review that believed my Ash could beat Canon!Ash with eight badges.**

 **Now, since it would be impossible for my Ash to meet Canon!Ash in this story, this entry of Common Sense: BtS is decidedly non-canon to the story (although it's debatable for the first portion).**

 **Also, to save confusion, Canon!Ash will be referred to as Satoshi in the narration.**

 **EDIT: In an unfortunate accident, I lost a good chunk of data and had to rewrite this entire chapter. Sorry for the delay.**

 **Location: Chapter 22**

* * *

Forged by Pressure

Ash lay in his bed on the cabin he and Brock were sharing. The breeder was already asleep, and Pikachu was tucked in beside his Trainer. But still he lay awake thinking of the call that he'd made to Delia.

The Pallet Trainer knew very well that he wasn't the brightest. He'd always been more focused on battle instead of sitting down with books, even if he got basic schooling the same as every other pre-Trainer. But he could tell that his mother missed him dearly.

'She said not to fly home, but I know that she'd love for me to visit,' Ash mused. 'If I could find a quicker way to travel between wherever I am and Pallet Town, then there wouldn't be a problem.'

He saw Dexter sticking out of the pocket of his jacket next to his hat and belt of Poké Balls, but didn't want to wake Pikachu and Brock. The Pokédex was massively helpful for information, but not so much on staying quiet while giving advice.

'Tomorrow,' Ash decided. 'I'll look up any moves to travel quickly tomorrow.'

Something glimmering caught his attention and he looked out the window to see some silver fog gathering outside the window. Ash raised an eyebrow, but figured it was the moon coloring the watery substance.

'I should get some sleep.'

Pulling Pikachu closer, to the Pokémon's unconscious comfort, Ash settled into bed and was asleep in moments.

Unnoticed by any of the sleeping inhabitants, the fog started to seep in through the window, retaining its glow even in the shade of the room.

* * *

Ash's eyes snapped open when he hit solid ground, having felt like he fell out of bed. He shot up to sit and look around, expecting Team Rocket and startling Pikachu awake with the sudden movement. The Electric Mouse Pokémon released a shock in defense by instinct, causing Ash to yell in pain. Once Pikachu cut the electricity off with a sheepish apology, the Pallet Trainer spent a bit of time to shake off the pain before resuming his survey of the surroundings.

Everything around him seemed to be covered in the same fog he'd seen before, forming a border in a vaguely rectangular shape and covering the floor at about ankle-depth. He brushed his bare hand on the ground underneath while still holding Pikachu close and felt grass, and could barely make out the outline of some trees beyond the wall of fog. A look up revealed the night sky above with the full moon shining down and two clouds made of the same fog, one above him and one on the other side of the clearing.

The cloud over his head started writhing and spat out some familiar items. Eyes widening, Ash stood up and rushed to catch his belt of Poké Balls, leaving his jacket, hat and shoes to fall to the ground.

Once he had it in his hand, he let out a sigh of relief while Pikachu jumped out of his arm. The Pallet Trainer then fastened the belt around his waist while moving over to his jacket.

A cheerful call rang out while he was putting it on, "Pika!"

Ash looked down and saw Pikachu offering his hat up with a smile. He smiled back with a chuckle and took the item, "Thanks, Pikachu."

Pikachu nodded, and the two of them turned serious again as the boy continued, "Whatever brought us here, I get the feeling it's bigger than Team Rocket."

"Pi-kachu," the Electric-type agreed in a low tone as he looked around the foggy glade.

Ash reached for his shoes when the cloud on the opposite side from them started writhing as well. Pikachu climbed up Ash's body to his usual perch and looked from his Trainer's shoulder with his cheeks sparking.

The Pallet Trainer simply put his hat on and slipped one foot into a shoe on the ground as he kept his eyes trained on the cloud to see what, or who, it dropped.

A bound form in a blue sleeping bag fell out of the foggy substance, crying out at the rather harsh landing before squirming around with groggy grumbling. Ash's eyes widened at the sight of the sleeping gear. It looked just like the one he kept in his backpack.

The cloud proceeded to drop a Pikachu onto the padded surface of the sleeping bag as its occupant sat up, causing the newly arrived Pokémon to roll into their lap and begin waking up as a result. Ash's eyes widened as he gaped in shock. Pikachu looked from his Trainer to the boy across from them.

Said boy looked exactly like Ash, right down to the last feature. Black hair, blue and white jacket, fingerless green gloves on the hands now rubbing at his eyes. And as if completing the picture, the cloud spat out the same Pokémon League expo hat, the item drifting down through the air to land on the double's head. This was Satoshi of Pallet Town.

Ash could only stare in morbid fascination as he slipped his other shoe on and walked towards the other boy. Taking off his hat and grabbing the other one off his double, he checked the inside of each side-by-side. Official Pokémon League expo hats had a special emblem stitched on the inside with a number printed over it since they were so rare.

Sure enough, both hats had the Poké Ball shape with the green symbol over it and a "07" printed beside it. Ash remembered that day that he'd thought his hat to be the luckiest of the bunch with that number, which was why he treasured it so much for his journey.

Looking back, Ash mused that it seemed ridiculous to believe such a thing. He still liked his hat, and it had managed to get him out of a tight spot once or twice, but it probably wasn't luckier than any other hat. He put his own hat back on while continuing to stare at his double's own.

Regardless, Satoshi had come out of his half-groggy state and realized that his hat was missing, seeing it in a hand in front of him. With Ash's hands missing his gloves, the similarity didn't register. He shot up while still in his sleeping bag, unintentionally sending his Pikachu falling to the ground.

"Hey!" he shouted. "That's my hat, give it back!"

Ash placed Satoshi's hat back on his head and pulled the bill over his eyes, "Calm down, I just wanted to check something."

Pikachu, meanwhile, jumped down and helped his double up, much to the latter's surprise once he got a good look at the Electric-type and his Trainer.

Satoshi shrugged off the sleeping bag while mumbling in confusion, "Wait, that voice…" He straightened his hat to look up and stumbled back, nearly tripping over his sleeping bag when he saw Ash.

"You're me!"

Taking on a thoughtful expression, Ash replied, "Well, kind of. There's something weird going on. We look the same, but you don't act like me."

"And you're acting like you're used to this," Satoshi commented as he regained his bearings and both Pikachu climbed up to their respective Trainer's shoulder.

"I've had to deal with a lot of surprises since my journey started, and none of the good kind," Ash deadpanned. "Freaking out doesn't fix anything, so I just try to figure it out, but I'm stumped on this."

The two Trainers stared at each other for a minute before Satoshi snapped his fingers, "If we've been on the same journey, maybe looking at our badges will help us figure out who's from when."

Ash raised an eyebrow before nodding. Both boys lifted the side of their jacket and both of Ash's eyebrows raised when he saw that Satoshi had eight badges.

"So you're from the past?" Satoshi wondered while looking at Ash's three badges. "When?"

"I just got past Hutber Port, you know, the Tentacool and giant Tentacruel," Ash replied while closing his jacket again. Something didn't add up for him, though. If Satoshi was from the future, then why did he seem so… He didn't even know the right word for it, but something seemed different.

Satoshi nodded, "Ah, right. It's a good thing Misty stopped them from wrecking anything else."

Ash's eyes snapped up, "What? _Misty_?"

"Yeah, I sent my Pokémon out to try stopping Tentacruel, but it didn't work," he explained. "Pikachu tried reasoning with Tentacruel from there, but it would've kept attacking if it wasn't for Misty."

Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Ash asked, "Who won at Cerulean Gym?"

"Well, uh… Pidgeotto managed to defeat Starmie, but-"

"Who _won_?" Ash demanded, already seeing another inconsistency.

Satoshi sighed, "Well, nobody. Team Rocket interrupted before we could finish our battle, and the Gym was wrecked. Pikachu managed to send them packing, and Misty's sisters gave me the badge as thanks."

Ash bristled at the fact that his double had accepted instead of continuing the battle since it clashed with his own sense of pride. But he kept it down since he needed more information.

"Team Rocket," he started. "Did you ever deal with them if you're from the future?"

"I dealt with them pretty much every week, sometimes twice a week," Satoshi answered with an eye roll. "They're pretty harmless, but annoy-"

"That's enough."

Satoshi blinked and Ash seemed to be deep in thought again with the brim of his hat shadowing his eyes. His Pikachu also seemed more dismissive of the alternate Trainer than before.

"You're not my future. You can't be."

"What do you mean?"

Ash looked up with a glare, "I bet you've had a pretty easy journey. Sure, you have Team Rocket, but they never pushed you like they did me. And you accepted a badge without working for it. Don't you have any pride as a Trainer?"

"Hey!" Satoshi snapped. "I may not have won all of them through battle, but I worked hard to get where I am! Who do you think you are?"

"You think _you_ know what hard work is?" Ash asked incredulously. "If I were like you, I'd lose _everything_." He turned around, "We're done here. I'm going to find a way out."

Starting to walk back to the cloud he'd (probably) come from, Ash was contemplating trying to fly back through with Pidgeot when Satoshi rushed ahead of him and blocked his way with a growl.

"I'll show you pride! I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

Ash raised an eyebrow with a slight smirk, "Will that make you feel better to pick on a three-badger with your eight badges of experience? You remind me of my Misty."

"You think you can't do it?" Satoshi challenged.

" _Reeeaaally_ reminding me of Misty," Ash replied with a chuckle. "All right. Win or lose, it doesn't matter to me. I think I stand a fair chance, but if not then that just means I need to train that much harder."

He walked past Satoshi until there was a good enough distance between them and turned around, "Six-on-six, then. Is a free battle with substitutions all right with you?"

Satoshi already had his hat turned around, "Whatever, let's battle!"

But his Pikachu tapped the side of his head and pointed to his belt while speaking. Satoshi raised an eyebrow, but then his eyes widened in realization.

"What is it?" Ash asked.

Satoshi twitched as if he hated to admit it, "I… don't have six Pokémon on me. Only five."

"So? Switch one in with your Pokédex, then."

"My Poké…? Oh!" Satoshi took out Dexter, "Right! The white button!"

Ash took out his own, "Now that that's settled, I'm going to pick out my own team."

The Pallet Trainer thought carefully about which Pokémon to use. Pikachu was a given, of course. The screen showed his current team, split six ways to display Pikachu, Squirtle, Kingler, Bulbasaur, Horsea and Butterfree. Each had a number at the bottom of their partitions, labeled one through six.

Dexter's mechanical voice prompted, **_"Please select the Pokémon you wish to switch out."_**

Ash looked at the bunch and decided to keep only one Water Pokémon. He was already decided to send Horsea back since the Dragon Pokémon didn't have much experience with battling yet. Trying to pick between Squirtle and Kingler, Ash chose the former since his recent acrobatic training made him more versatile. Clicking 3 and 5 on the 0-9 keypad, Horsea and Kingler's images became outlined in blue.

Thinking it over some more as he stared at the screen, Ash also clicked 6 to send Butterfree back. He didn't want to take any chances, so he decided to switch him out for Pidgeot since the Bird Pokémon was more of a direct battler. He was only second strongest (physically) to Kingler, but his speed and flight gave him a definite edge.

He pressed the white button again to confirm, and the images changed to show Tentacool, Rattata, Pidgeot and Charmander numbered one through four.

 ** _"Please select the Pokémon you wish to receive."_**

"Are you done yet?" Satoshi called.

Ash held up a finger without turning around and clicked 2, 3, and 4 with his thumb before hitting the white button with the outstretched finger. He felt the Poké Balls leave his belt one-by-one and caught each of the shrunken spheres as they sequentially appeared a few inches over the screen.

Hooking them to his belt as he turned around, Ash twisted his own hat back, "There. Now I'm ready."

The fog receded from the ground to the walls, revealing that the ground was exposed dirt with patches of grass marking the unofficial Trainer boxes. A large pond was also near the center and off to the side.

"All right! I've got my first Pokémon ready to go," Satoshi called as he held up one of his Poké Balls and threw it forward. "Bulbasaur, I choose you!"

Ash gave his choice a brief moment of consideration as the sphere flew out. If he picked one with too strong an advantage, then his opponent might just switch out.

Picking one of his Poké Balls off his belt, he expanded it and threw it forward as Satoshi's opened to release Bulbasaur.

"Squirtle, go!"

The ball released the Water-type just as Bulbasaur fully formed, and the Tiny Turtle Pokémon looked up before raising an eyebrow and lifting his sunglasses to get a better look. Satoshi's Bulbasaur seemed equally confused, and both turned back to their Trainers.

Ash shrugged at his Pokémon with his free shoulder, Pikachu holding his hands up as well in a similar gesture as the Trainer replied, "Just roll with it."

Satoshi seemingly said something similar to his Pokémon, though Ash couldn't hear him. Both Pokémon focused back on the battle.

"Vine Whip!" Satoshi commanded.

Ash smiled, "Withdraw, and move in close for attack!"

Bulbasaur released his vines and Squirtle drew into his shell. The Seed Pokémon slapped one vine uselessly against the top of the shell before deciding to send it spinning with a side swipe. But Squirtle simply used the spin to curve around and start moving closer.

Satoshi scowled in thought before ordering, "Grab him!"

The Grass/Poison-type's vines swept forward low to the ground from either direction, cutting off Squirtle's avenues of escape.

"Wait for my call…" Ash urged. Right as the vines were almost on him, he urged, "Forward flip!"

To his opponents' surprise, Squirtle launched off the ground over Bulbasaur's vines, spinning end over end before popping his limbs out and winding up for a punch. He connected while the Seed Pokémon was still staring, hitting him between the eyes with Mega Punch.

The blow sent Bulbasaur stumbling back, his vines retracting on instinct, but Satoshi pressed on, "Leech Seed!"

A seed sprouted from the bulb on his back and shot forward. However, Squirtle was more than familiar with the move from sparring with his own teammate, so he didn't need a prompt to sidestep the projectile and jump away so that his feet didn't get tangled by the ivy spreading across the ground.

"Mega Kick!"

Lunging forward again, Squirtle jumped and connected with Bulbasaur's side in a double jump kick, flipping off from the impact as the Seed Pokémon was knocked on his side and landing on his feet while looking to see if he got up.

Bulbasaur rolled to his stomach again, admittedly painfully, and stood up again with a growl, refusing to give in. Satoshi, meanwhile, searched through his Pokédex for any moves that he might have overlooked. **(1)**

"Ah, here! Bulbasaur, use Poison Powder!"

Ash tsked, "Water Gun that bulb!"

Squirtle did so right as the purple dust started gathering at the top, ready to spew. The attack hit and Bulbasaur was thoroughly soaked with his bulb being waterlogged. The attack itself didn't seem to do much, but his bulb only spewed up water instead of powder.

"What's going on?" Satoshi wondered.

"Stun Spore doesn't work if you wash it off with water," Ash explained. "By that logic, powder moves shouldn't be able to fire if you get the source wet; the powder's too heavy to fly."

Internally, he thought, 'Thanks, Misty.' If it weren't for their Gym battle, he wouldn't have figured that out.

"Now, finish him with Skull Bash!" the Pallet Trainer commanded.

His double hurriedly urged, "Bulbasaur, catch him with Vine Whip!"

Squirtle charged forward faster than he had before and Bulbasaur called his vines out to grab him only for the Water-type to shoot another Water Gun into his face. While it did hardly any damage, it forced Bulbasaur to close his eyes from the liquid irritating them. And while he was stunned, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon launched forward like a torpedo and connected with a solid headbutt between his opponent's eyes.

Bulbasaur was sent flying back and Squirtle landed on his belly before pushing himself to stand up again while rubbing the crown of his head. Skull Bash reinforced his head like Mega Punch and Mega Kick did his limbs, but there was still a thrum from the impact.

The Grass/Poison-type was sent onto his back, head on the ground and rear legs in the air since his bulb prevented him from lying flat.

When he didn't move at first, Satoshi called out worriedly, "Bulbasaur!"

Surprisingly, he started moving again, slowly rolling to his side (the one that hadn't taken a Mega Kick) and struggling to his feet. Bulbasaur had a bad bruise on his forehead, but he kept trying to stand.

Squirtle and Ash watched, admittedly impressed. What the other Trainer seemed to lack in knowledge, he and his Pokémon made up for in raw determination.

'But that can only get you so far,' Ash mused, recalling his first defeat in Viridian Forest.

Satoshi was having a different line of thought as he watched his Pokémon struggle to stand.

'How are they so strong? I was nowhere near this level when I had three badges.' He was willing to admit that now, but couldn't believe that the gap between them was so big. 'Darn it! I need to ready Solar Beam, but there's no way that Bulbasaur can take another hit. I need to buy time…'

His eyes happened to pass over the still writhing Leech Seed ivy, and he got an idea as Bulbasaur finally managed to stand up fully.

"Bulbasaur! Leech Seed everywhere! Form a net so they can't get closer!"

The Seed Pokémon obliged, and Satoshi was glad that the water didn't stop the pods from being launched. Squirtle was forced to leap back to avoid the rapidly expanding web of vines and clicked his tongue in annoyance at the stalling tactic.

"Now, ready the Solar Beam!"

Ash's eyes widened, as he hadn't heard of that move before. Bits of light started gathering from the sky into Bulbasaur's bulb and he took out his Pokédex.

 ** _"Move identified: Solar Beam, the strongest Grass-type attack. Light is collected and formed into a powerful beam with intensive force."_** **(2)**

Squirtle, on the other hand, realized that he was in real trouble since there was no way a long distance water attack was going to take down Bulbasaur before he was ready to fire. The Seed Pokémon was determined to win.

Seeing the pond, he broke into a run and dove in as Bulbasaur turned towards him, his bulb glowing white from within.

"Fire the Solar Beam!" Satoshi commanded.

With a roar, the Seed Pokémon did so, firing a beam of energy that carved a trench in the ground by its proximity as it skirted towards the pond. It pierced the bank and shot straight into the water from the low angle and the light flashed up from the water before an explosion sent water shooting up in a geyser and raining back down.

Everybody waited for the result as they stared at the pond, Bulbasaur breathing heavily. Ash and his Pikachu knew that it was still up in the air since they hadn't seen Squirtle come up with the burst of water.

The first sign they got was when the ground under Bulbasaur's chin rumbled, but it was too late and he was too exhausted to dodge. Squirtle shot up from a newly made hole and delivered an uppercut to the Grass/Poison-type's chin. He was unconscious before he hit the ground, and the circle of ivy withered away around them.

The Water-type let out a breath of relief. Even with the tunnel he dug from the pond, the blast had still forced water towards him. If he hadn't withdrawn into his shell at the last second, he might've gotten hurt by the pressure. Or worse, his sunglasses could've been broken.

"Squirtle knows Dig?" Ash commented in confusion. He didn't remember teaching him that. Then he glanced at the hole leftover and realized. "Ah, so that's how they set up their pitfall traps…"

"Bulbasaur, return!" Satoshi called after a brief moment staring at his unconscious Pokémon. He then muttered to himself, "Guess I underestimated him. Pikachu, you ready?"

The Electric Mouse Pokémon nodded determinedly and hopped down before stepping forward.

Squirtle regarded his new opponent, knowing that he didn't stand much of a chance. His maneuverability was completely overshadowed by Pikachu's speed and wouldn't help him much. Touching him was out since he could shock him with the contact, and even water attacks had a risk of conducting electricity back to him.

"Squirtle, return!"

He nodded his thanks back to Ash as the beam connected and recalled him back to his ball.

The Pallet Trainer shrunk the sphere and replaced it with a different one, "Go, Charmander!"

The Fire-type materialized in the air with a happy "Char!" at getting an opportunity to battle. He landed on the ground and regarded his opponent. He blinked in surprise, and then turned around to make sure that he hadn't wound up in somebody else's possession. When he saw Ash, he scratched the side of his head in puzzlement, but shrugged and decided that a battle was a battle, regardless of weird circumstances.

"[It's some sort of alternate Ash,]" Pikachu explained in as few words as he could for time's sake.

Charmander nodded and got ready for battle. He was a bit nervous, considering how much faster his own teammate was than him, but hid it. If Ash believed he could beat this alternate Pikachu, then he would win.

'All I need is one clean hit, and the rest of the battle will be easy,' he reassured himself.

Testing the waters, he shot a Flamethrower straight at his opponent, to see how he'd react. Predictably, Pikachu dodged to the side, and Satoshi commanded, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

Charmander started running, grateful for the spars with the likes of Ash's Pikachu and Pidgeot. They trained him to react quicker and notice fast opponents. He still had no hope of keeping up with either of them, but he could see them coming if they weren't using Agility and try to time his attacks to match.

The first bolt hit where he was, and he skidded to a stop to avoid the second bolt before tumbling backwards to dodge a third. From there, he shot a Flamethrower to get Pikachu on the defensive and give himself time to get back up.

"Keep it up, Charmander!" Ash encouraged. "You're doing great!"

"[Just one hit and his speed will be cut down!]" Pikachu added.

Satoshi realized that he was wasting electricity and decided to try a different approach, "Pikachu, Quick Attack!"

The Electric-type blinked out of sight, reappearing for brief instants flitting from side to side as he charged closer. Charmander, however, recognized the opportunity that he had here.

'Wait for it…'

He knew Pikachu (or at least his teammate), and figured that he would attack head-on from the front, likely in the stomach. The Fire-type saw him reappear right in front of him and was moving even before the impact.

As Satoshi's Pokémon tackled him, Charmander locked his arms around his opponent, even as he was knocked back. Pikachu looked up from his bind in surprise and saw Charmander looking down at him with a grin despite his pain. The Fire-type opened his mouth as they hit the ground.

"CHAAAAAAAAAR!"

A Flamethrower roared out of his mouth at point-blank range and seared Pikachu along with Charmander's arms. The Fire Lizard Pokémon was able to resist thanks to his typing, but Pikachu wasn't so lucky. When Charmander cut the attack off, he threw Pikachu off him to avoid getting shocked and backed away.

The Electric Mouse Pokémon slowly got up to all fours, but he was covered in burns.

"[You're done,]" Charmander said. "[You can't move at your top speed now, and without that I have the advantage.]"

"Pikachu, fill this whole area with lightning!" Satoshi ordered. "Thunder!"

This time, instead of surprise, Ash and his Pikachu watched closely to see if they could find what they were doing wrong with their use of Thunder.

Charmander only nonchalantly looked up as his opponent charged massive amounts of electricity and fired it up to form a whirling vortex that continued expanding even after Pikachu stopped feeding it energy.

"A _circle_ , not a sphere," Ash realized. "We've been using too _much_ electricity in Thunder, no wonder you always get so tired after using it. To make our version, you must've been packing everything you've got in there."

Meanwhile, electricity started raining down over the area of the glade Charmander was in, but he simply burrowed downward, his claws easily digging through the earth. One of the bolts did go down the hole, but by then he'd tunneled laterally from that position and was completely unaffected.

Satoshi and his Pokémon watched in dismay as the attack completely missed its target and Charmander resurfaced after it passed and walked closer to his panting opponent.

"[You didn't give up,]" he noted while stopping before him. "[I respect that.]"

The Fire-type then whipped around and slammed his tail into Pikachu's jaw, sending him rolling across the ground and knocking him out.

Satoshi ran out to retrieve him, "Pikachu! Are you okay?"

"Pi…" the Pokémon muttered while starting to wake up.

Looking around, the Pallet Trainer retrieved his formerly discarded sleeping bag and folded it up beside him before laying Pikachu down on the padded material.

"You get a good rest," he gently urged with a smile. "I'll keep up the battle."

Pikachu fell asleep again to recover, and Satoshi turned a serious look to his counterpart.

"I've been taking it easy on you, but not anymore," he warned. "I wanted to save him for last, but now I'll show you how strong I am."

Holding up a Poké Ball, Satoshi threw it out, "I choose you! Charizard!"

"Chari-WHAT?" Ash wondered incredulously. As a large draconian shape started forming, he took out his Pokédex and pointed it at the materializing Pokémon. They stood upright on rather short but thick legs. A large body supported a long neck with a blunt-horned head at the end. Wings grew out of the Pokémon's back and their arms seemed rather skinny in comparison to the rest of his body, but Ash didn't doubt that their punches would still hurt. But the most familiar features to him were the orange scales and yellow belly, along with a large flame at the end of the Pokémon's tail.

At that moment, Dexter spoke up with a ping, **_"Charizard, the Flame Pokémon. The final form of Charmander. Charizard's powerful flames can melt absolutely anything."_**

Gritting his teeth, Ash clicked for the type information. He needed to know what would be most effective.

 ** _"Charizard has qualities of both Fire and Flying-type Pokémon."_**

'Either Pikachu or Pidgeot, then,' he decided. 'I need electricity or another Flying-type to even the score.'

He held out his Poké Ball to recall Charmander, but the return command died on his lips when he saw Charizard not ready for battle, but reclining for a nap.

Ash stared for a moment, wondering if it was some sort of trick before lowering his Poké Ball with a raised eyebrow.

"…What?"

"Charizard, come on!" Satoshi groaned. "You can't do this to me _now_!"

The Flame Pokémon simply let out an obnoxious yawn.

Trying a different approach, the Pallet Trainer said, "It's another me! What's a more interesting battle than that? He's already beaten Bulbasaur and Pikachu! I need you to battle!"

The dragon didn't react except to open one eye and regard Ash before snorting dismissively.

As Satoshi continued to beg and plead for Charizard to fight, Ash watched in half fascination and half pity. But he was curious about the sight before him, so he took out his Pokédex again.

"Dexter, disobedient Pokémon?"

With a ping, the image of a Poké Ball came up, **_"If a Trainer does not have enough experience relative to a Pokémon's power, the Pokémon will not respect the Trainer and will grow disobedient."_**

"So it's a matter of respect…" Ash had no doubts that all of his Pokémon respected him, and even liked him. He guessed that the rest of his double's Pokémon still liked him, but Charizard didn't respect him anymore for whatever reason.

Meanwhile, Pikachu had jumped down when he saw Charmander staring in open disbelief.

"[You know that's not you, right?]" he asked.

Charmander snapped out of his trance and turned away in revulsion, "[I can't believe _any_ version of me would be so ungrateful. Ash _saved_ me. That version of him must have done the same, but the other me is just so… so…]"

"[Rude? Terrible? Lazy?]"

"[All of them,]" the Fire-type growled. "[I want to teach him a lesson so _badly_ , but… I'd get destroyed the instant he fought back.]"

Pikachu smiled and patted him on the back, "[That's why we're a team, Charmander.]"

He turned around, "[Ash!]"

At hearing "Pika-pi!" something Ash had learned was Pikachu's way of referring to him, he looked down to see his starter point to himself and then towards Charizard.

"You want to tag in?"

"Pi!" the Electric-type nodded.

Ash nodded back, "Then show Charizard what you're made of! This is still a battle." He raised his voice, "Hey! I'm done waiting! If Charizard's not going to battle, then we'll just have to start without him!"

Pikachu charged forward and Satoshi's eyes widened, "Charizard, you have to move!"

"Thunderbolt!"

"Darn it! Charizard, return!"

The bolt struck uselessly into the ground as the beam connected to Charizard's back and pulled him into his Poké Ball.

Ash raised an eyebrow, "Do you want him to battle or not?"

"I'm… saving him for later!" Satoshi reasoned. "I choose… Uh…"

At that moment, he realized that he didn't actually have any Pokémon that could reliably counter electricity. Bulbasaur and Pikachu were already out, Pidgeotto and Squirtle would have a disadvantage, and his last Pokémon was a long shot if Ash's Pikachu was stronger than his.

"Pikachu, return," Ash called without a Poké Ball. "I'll save you for later, too, then." Pikachu nodded and moved back to Ash and Charmander's side.

Satoshi gritted his teeth at the rather patronizing statement, but knew there wasn't much he could do about it. Moving between his three remaining Pokémon, he picked one and threw it out.

"I choose Squirtle!"

Ash picked out his own, "Then I choose Rattata."

The two Pokémon emerged, having heard their respective Trainers talking through their Poké Balls and knowing what to expect. Ash raised an eyebrow at the other Squirtle not wearing his sunglasses, but decided that it didn't really matter right now.

"Quick Attack, Rattata!"

The Mouse Pokémon flitted forward and Squirtle raised his guard only for her to circle around at the last second and attack him in the back of the head. With her small size, she was able to lend her entire (if light) weight to targeting the area.

Squirtle was knocked forward, but managed to land on all fours as Rattata tumbled in front of him to roll back to her feet. He shot a Water Gun, but Rattata easily burrowed underground to dodge. Squirtle's eyes widened and he threw himself away from his current location right in time to avoid Rattata's snapping teeth as she surfaced right where his belly had been. He had his shell, but it wasn't as tough on the underside.

"[Even without acrobatics, it seems the other Squirtle's no slouch in dodging,]" Charmander commented. "[Though I'm faster than him.]"

"[Knowing Ash, he'll probably decide to make it easier to hit him,]" Pikachu replied.

"Rattata, Quick Fang!"

"[See?]"

"Squirtle, Withdraw!" Satoshi hurriedly ordered since that move didn't sound like good news.

The Tiny Turtle Pokémon did so, but Rattata smiled as she blurred away. She reappeared by Squirtle's leg hole and stuck her head in, her teeth glowing with Hyper Fang. A moment later Squirtle popped back out of his shell, screaming in pain as he hopped around trying to shake and pull Rattata off as she gnawed on his leg.

Charmander laughed, "[I guess small size can have its advantages the same as being bigger does.]"

"Gah! Squirtle, return!"

Rattata landed on the ground once her opponent's body turned to energy and stood firm as she waited for her next opponent to come out.

"Go, Muk!"

Ash raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar Pokémon – a blob of purple sludge with two short arms, a big mouth and two narrow eyes – while Rattata recoiled in disgust. He couldn't blame her considering that her main method of attack was biting. He took out his Pokédex.

 ** _"Muk, the Sludge Pokémon. The evolved form of Grimer. Use extreme caution, as its slimy form contains poison."_**

Humming in thought as he put the device away, he held out Rattata's Poké Ball, "Rattata, you can't do much against an opponent like that. Return!"

Granted, she might be able to do some damage if she activated Guts with Muk's poison, but he wasn't going to send her into battle to get intentionally hurt.

"Charmander, you good to go another round?"

The Fire Lizard Pokémon nodded confidently and stepped forward. Muk raised his arms with an intimidating "Muuuuuk!" revealing his hands to have three fingers each. The Sludge Pokémon slithered forward, and Charmander leveled a flat look at the almost insulting speed he was approached.

'I'm just going to finish this quickly,' he decided. 'Shame. I was hoping to save the reveal for a more dramatic battle.'

Taking a deep breath, Charmander shot out a spiral of flames that wrapped around Muk in a ring before flaring upward.

"Muk!" Satoshi called worriedly.

Ash's eyes widened as he pointed Dexter forward, "Whoa!"

 ** _"Move identified: Fire Spin. A ring of powerful flames blocks the opponent from moving before inflicting great damage."_**

"Nice one, Charmander," he complimented, to the Fire-type's beaming pride.

But the exchange was cut short when sludge started bleeding out, snuffing out the flames at the base. Muk spread himself over the wall of fire and his body steamed slightly before he reformed into his basic form.

Charmander growled at having his move overpowered so easily, and shot a direct Flamethrower, but Muk flattened out again and it went over his head as he kept moving forward. The Fire-type simply kept leading Muk in a circle as he took small hops back while periodically firing off streams of fire.

"Charmander's too fast," Satoshi grumbled. "Muk! Do you have any moves that can hit at a distance?"

Muk stopped his slow pursuit and scratched the side of his head while another Flamethrower hit his side, but he paid it little mind. Looking at the hand he was holding up, he got an idea.

"Muk! Muk!" he triumphantly cried while whirling his arm around.

Charmander raised an eyebrow, but got caught off guard when the Sludge Pokémon swung his fist forward, more of his mass extending from his body to elongate the limb. The fist at the end connected with his stomach, sending him tumbling back, and Muk had slimmed out slightly. But Satoshi's Pokémon retracted the arm and regained his bulk while seeming satisfied at coming up with his new move. **(3)**

The moment was brief, however, since Charmander shot back to his feet. His tail flame blazed considerably larger as he tapped into Rage. It was pretty easy since he was furious at having actually been hit by such a slow opponent. Worse, it had actually hurt quite a bit, which stung his pride and made him look bad in front of Ash.

"[I am _done_!]" the Fire-type snarled as he charged forward.

Satoshi grew worried. He recognized Rage from the last time his own Charmander had used it, and it had taken out a fully evolved Pokémon in one move.

He called out to his Pokémon, "Take him out, Muk! Quickly!"

Muk shot out another elongated arm, but Charmander saw it coming now and sidestepped it as his claws gained a flickering white glow and grew in length. With a swipe of his arm, he cleaved Muk's hand off at the wrist.

"Mu-u-uk!" the Poison-type blubbered in surprise before the smaller pile of sludge started returning to him, but Charmander was making much swifter progress and already had fire blazing behind his gritted teeth.

"Body Slam!" Satoshi ordered. "But keep the tail free!" He didn't want to accidentally kill Charmander by smothering his tail flame.

Muk loomed over the approaching Fire-type and piled over him before he could attack. Charmander's tail was still poking out from beneath him, and was thrashing about now. Cuts were carved through Muk's back, but they started mending as the struggle died down.

The Sludge Pokémon waited a moment before letting out a sigh of relief as his disembodied hand returned to him. Then his eyes widened as he felt a rapidly building heat and his body started swelling. He looked at the tail to see that its flame had swollen to giant proportions.

Muk's body blew up, splattering him all over in a broad area and allowing a pillar of fire to continue up into the sky unhindered. Charmander stood in the center of a patch of scorched earth once the flames died down, and he was burned from his own attack since the heat had gotten harmful even with his resistance.

Satoshi looked devastated, "Muk…" Then he saw a piece of sludge near his feet start writhing before it slithered back towards the center. "Huh?"

The pieces of sludge started gathering back together as they crawled across the ground and Satoshi took out his Pokédex, pointing it at the gathering pile.

 ** _"Grimer and Muk are unconscious regenerators, and can survive virtually anything so long as the pieces can regroup. It is this unconventional constitution which makes them the only species of Pokémon that can use Explosion to its fullest power."_** **(4)**

Satoshi let out a sigh of relief as the gathering blob of sludge regained the familiar features. Even if Muk was visibly exhausted, his posture slumped low to the ground instead of at his full height and panting hard, the Trainer was just glad that he was alive. While he'd never used him much in battle, the thought of any of his Pokémon being gone forever was frightening. He made a promise to himself to show Muk more appreciation from then on.

"[That hurt… a lot…]" Muk muttered to himself. The Sludge Pokémon wasn't used to pain since he could absorb a lot of punishment before being knocked out. And even when that happened, it was more from exhaustion than actual hurt.

Charmander, meanwhile, started charging again, his rage gone, but with his claws lengthened and glowing white. The Fire-type had learned Slash during his earlier berserker charge.

"Uh-oh! Muk, return!" Satoshi called.

The Sludge Pokémon disappeared and Charmander stood up straight again, catching his breath.

"You were great out there, Charmander," Ash said as he held out his Poké Ball. "Return."

The Fire Lizard Pokémon was grateful, because he was actually quite tired and wanted to sit down for some rest in his Poké Ball.

Satoshi knew that he was running out of able Pokémon to use, but refused to give up. Throwing out his next Pokémon, he called out, "Pidgeotto, go!"

"Pidgeot, you're up!"

The Trainer gawked at the bigger bird that came out of Ash's Poké Ball and took out his Pokédex again.

 ** _"Pidgeot, the Bird Pokémon. The evolved form of Pidgeotto. It can fly at twice the speed of sound at an altitude of nearly one mile."_**

"How…?" he muttered in disbelief.

Ash ordered, "Pidgeot, Clothesline Dash!"

The Bird Pokémon disappeared and hit his counterpart in the neck with his wing, knocking him for a loop and making it hard for the lesser evolved Pokémon to breathe as he tried to stabilize his flight.

"Now, finish with Quick Attack!"

Pidgeot dive-bombed his opponent in the chest and drove him all the way to the ground, carving a trench and leaving a cloud of dust that he surfaced from afterward. When the dust cleared, Pidgeotto was knocked out.

Satoshi fell to his knees clutching the grass with one hand as he held out Pidgeotto's Poké Ball and recalled him.

"S-Squirtle, maybe…?" he muttered, feeling no real hope behind his words. "Maybe I could… try convincing Charizard again…?"

He felt a tiny hand go over his and saw that Pikachu had woken up and moved next to him. The Pokémon was still burnt, but stood on all fours with little apparent difficulty. Satoshi looked into his Pokémon's eyes and found reassurance from him. After staring at him with a lost look for a moment, he set his face into a determined frown as he stood up again while taking Pikachu back onto his shoulder.

He looked to Pidgeot and his counterpart across the clearing, "You're right, Pikachu. We may not win today, but we're sure gonna go down fighting!"

"Pi- _ka_!" the Electric-type agreed.

Taking out another Poké Ball, he threw it out, "Squirtle, get into the water!"

The Water-type appeared and dove straight into the pond, emerging in the center.

"Pidgeot, return," Ash called before exchanging the sphere for another. "Go, Bulbasaur! Leech Seed!"

Bulbasaur moved to the edge of the pond after his release to shoot several pods into the water, which Squirtle dove down to avoid. A small stream of water shot them out of the pond one-by-one, causing them to burst harmlessly on the earth.

"Hrm… Fish him out with Vine Whip!"

The Seed Pokémon extended his vines and searched around in the lake before flinching with a yelp of pain. He withdrew the appendages and blew on one that had a visible bite mark on the end.

Satoshi took that opportunity, "Skull Bash!"

Squirtle shot out of the water faster than Ash's had done since he'd been able to build up speed underwater. He connected solidly with Bulbasaur's head, but the Grass/Poison-type lashed out with his vines and managed to grab his opponent to drag him along for his tumble. Squirtle curled into his shell to endure any attacks.

Standing up again and growling at the Tiny Turtle Pokémon, Bulbasaur shot a Leech Seed that burst over Squirtle's shell. Since it was his own, the Seed Pokémon didn't have to worry about the ivy growing over his own vines. Bulbasaur's injuries started to fade, and before long, the energy started to diminish, so he willed the ivy away and tossed Squirtle away. The Water-type emerged from his shell unconscious.

"Squirtle, return!" Satoshi called without missing a beat, holding two Poké Balls with Squirtle's extended to retrieve him. He tossed the other one out, "Go, Charizard!"

The Flame Pokémon emerged still reclined, but Satoshi called out to him, "You're my last Pokémon." Crossing his arms, he gave his ultimatum, "I won't give you orders since you won't listen, but I'm also not pulling you out again. Either battle or just let yourself get beaten up."

Ash frowned at this new development as he saw Charizard open one eye, still not standing. Recalling Bulbasaur, he took out another Poké Ball. Popping it open, Charmander emerged sitting on the ground, but opened his eyes to see that he was beside his Trainer instead of on the battlefield.

"I figured that you'd want to see this part of the battle," Ash explained before turning to his shoulder. "Looks like it's for real this time, Pikachu. You're up."

Pikachu nodded and dropped down, giving a reassuring smile to Charmander before running into the battlefield already charging up electricity.

Letting out a sigh at what he saw to be a waste of his time, Charizard shot a Flamethrower wider than Pikachu was tall on his hindlegs, still in his reclined position. His eyes widened when Pikachu effortlessly dodged to the side and shot a Thunderbolt at him. With a beat of his wings and a rather undignified scramble, he barely got out of the way.

The dragon glanced back at his own Trainer before narrowing his eyes at Pikachu, deciding that he didn't need Satoshi's help. Charizard took flight high into the air, using Flamethrower in a huge sweeping bank that seared much of the dirt ground and headed toward Pikachu.

Concentrating, Pikachu thought to himself, 'Just the right speed… Just the right speed…'

Right before the fire hit, Pikachu blurred away in a flash of speed. Charizard scanned around while cutting off the flames and saw Pikachu hunched over a short distance away, seemingly catching his breath. He shot a Flamethrower that eclipsed the smaller Pokémon, but there was nothing left when the flames died.

More and more images of Pikachu appeared, some running on all fours, others standing with their arms crossed or out to the side in a ready position, and even a few making rude faces at the flying Pokémon.

'Double Team,' Charizard internally grumbled. 'This might take longer than I thought.'

He heard a bolt firing and turned to the source to see a scorched spot of earth. The same sound rang out again, and he saw massive bolts of electricity heading straight up for him as the afterimages started vanishing.

The Flame Pokémon dodged out of the way, but his tail lagged behind and still got clipped. He gritted his teeth as he felt a strong zap go through him. Not as much as from a direct hit, but it still stung regardless.

Charizard bared his teeth at Pikachu, who barely stopped his attack. But crackling from above caught his attention and he turned upward to see a vortex of electricity growing above him. By the time he realized what it was, the mass burst and rained down several smaller bolts than the ones that made it up.

He tried to dodge, but there wasn't enough space between the blasts for a Pokémon of his size. One bolt hitting him became two which became several as the rest struck the ground.

Satoshi bit his lower lip as he watched the display. Despite everything, he still hated to see Charizard so badly hurt. He felt bad for not warning Charizard about the Thunder attack, but before he could, his Pikachu discouraged him from doing so.

The Electric-type felt that the Flame Pokémon had a lesson to learn, and a loss would be the first step.

When the attack ended, Charizard's smoking form was falling from the sky. Satoshi got ready to recall him when the dragon suddenly thrashed about, flailing and beating his wings to try slowing his descent. He managed to level out, but still landed flat on the ground with a heavy thud.

Charizard began struggling to get up the instant he hit the ground, "[No…! I won't lose! I _don't_ lose!]"

Charmander watched from his Trainer's side with pity. While he himself had his pride, he'd lost many a spar with his teammates and grew stronger from them. His eyes then widened at that thought.

'That's the only difference between us,' Charmander realized. 'He's the strongest on his team, and it went straight to his head, didn't it?' Then his lip curled with disgust at the thought that he could've wound up just like his counterpart in the future.

 _"[That's why we're a team, Charmander.]"_

"[A team…]" the Fire-type muttered. 'Pikachu battled on my behalf, so we're… friends?'

He looked up at Ash and remembered all the times that he'd helped Charmander alongside the others during their training. Pidgeotto offering a wing to help him up after he lost a spar one time. Rattata taking time out of her training to help him learn Dig. Squirtle sticking strictly to his hand-to-hand combat when fighting him, even though his water attacks could give him an advantage. Butterfree, Bulbasaur and Kingler, he didn't know much about – Tentacool and Horsea even less – but they were always there with the rest of the team, like one big family.

'We're all friends,' he realized. It felt like a weight lifted off him as he looked up and smiled at Ash.

The moment was interrupted by another roar from Charizard, having managed to push himself to all fours.

"Charizard, you're hurt badly," Satoshi said as he moved closer. "We need to find a way out of here and get you to a Pokémon Center."

"[Go away!]" the Flame Pokémon roared while shooting a Flamethrower at the ground near his Trainer's feet, making the boy scramble away. He would have aimed at his face as usual, but it hurt to lift his head.

Charizard painfully pulled himself to his feet, glaring at Ash's Pikachu, "[This battle isn't over!]"

Pikachu sighed, "[Fine.]"

But as he charged up electricity, Satoshi got between them with his hands spread out.

"That's enough. Charizard's clearly in no condition to battle anymore. You win."

He turned around when the Flame Pokémon growled again and held out his Poké Ball, "I'm still your Trainer. You may not care about that, but _I_ do, and I'm not letting you get even more hurt. You can hit me in the face with a Flamethrower later. Return."

The beam connected, even as Charizard continued glaring at his Trainer. Once he was recalled, Satoshi let out a sigh.

"Looks like I still have a long way to go till I'm ready for the League…" he muttered.

Ash looked around as he approached and his Pikachu ran back to him, "So how do we get back?"

"I don't-" Satoshi stopped as he stared past Ash, "Wait, wasn't that wall further away?"

The two Trainers looked around and saw that the fog walls were indeed closing in on them, making the distant trees obscured again. The substance also closed over the ground again while eclipsing the sky, leaving only a faint silver glow as the sole light source.

"Charmander, return! Pikachu, stay close!" Ash ordered as Pikachu climbed up his Trainer.

Satoshi took his Pikachu from his shoulder to keep his hands on him, "Pikachu!"

* * *

Ash woke up with a jolt, Pikachu snapping awake at the same time. They looked around and saw that they were back in their cabin on the ferry. Brock was still asleep nearby and a look out the window revealed the fog to be gone.

All the same, Ash knew it wasn't a dream. The items he'd removed to go to sleep, hat, jacket and shoes, were all on his body again.

He took a deep breath and removed said items, carefully adjusting them to look as if they'd never been moved from their previous spots. One look at Pikachu confirmed their decision.

As far as anyone else was concerned, the events of that "dream" didn't happen. Meeting and battling alternate versions of yourself? Ridiculous!

With that promise made, the two went back to sleep.

* * *

 **Friendly reminder that this is non-canon to the story. Charmander is still unsure of his place on the team, he hasn't revealed Fire Spin, and Pikachu hasn't perfected Thunder.**

 **Notes:**

 **1\. Canon!Ash looks through his Pokédex once at Fuchsia Gym to check Psyduck's moveset. He does the same thing here to see if Bulbasaur has anything that he never used. On that note, if he knows Razor Leaf, he should be able to use Poison Powder.**

 **2\. I changed the entry to say "Grass-types'" because it, in fact, _not_ exclusive to Bulbasaur, even in Gen I. Granted, it's not lying either when it says it's Bulbasaur's strongest attack, but I decided to make its description more neutral for the aforementioned reason. Also, for those who might say that Solar Beam can't draw in sunlight at night, two things: 1) It was used at night before, on its debut, no less, and 2) Moonlight is just reflected sunlight and they're fighting under a full moon.**

 **3\. This is from one of my older stories. A Muk in said story figured out that he could transfer his mass to elongate/expand his limbs to hit from a distance or boost his punching power, among other abilities.**

 **4\. As I mentioned before (in Chapter 17 of the main story), Self-Destruct and Explosion are not kamikaze moves in anime canon. But, while the likes of Weezing, Electrode and Forretress only release enough energy to create the burst while not overly injuring themselves, Muk have no such limits here. With their uncommon ability to re-amass when cut up or blown to pieces, they could create a much larger burst in order to damage the opponent(s) without needing to hold back for their own safety.**

 **See you when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


	3. Squirtle Squad Schooling!

**A short one today, and not one that anybody requested, just an update on the Squirtle Squad.**

 **Location: Chapter 9-22**

* * *

Squirtle Squad Schooling!

It'd been a few weeks now since they'd been stolen from their old leader and the Squirtle Squad had adjusted as well as they could. After only a few days under constant surveillance during their first lessons, reading and writing, they'd received their armbands that tied them to Team Rocket—a metal band on each of their shoulders, slim enough to not get in the way if any of them needed to retract that arm. Each had a red R emblazoned on the side with a smaller etching next to it that had their official designations: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.

They had been told upon receiving them that each contained a tracker chip, had the ability to warp them back to HQ, and possessed an extra feature. If any of them tried to break theirs off, and succeeded, the other three would immediately be recalled. The one would go free if he got away, but the remaining three would be separated and sold.

From there, after they learned to read and write, they'd been put through the wringer.

Increased vocabulary, map reading, strategy, training drills, learning new moves under the drill sergeant's tutelage, everything except for disguise since the instructor had taken one look at them and said it would be a waste of time trying to disguise them as anything.

On the plus side, since they were on the same team, and the barracks usually had two beds to a room, they got to share a room together, two bunking on each bed. **(1)** It really helped on the first few nights whenever any of them had a nightmare of being separated. The four Squirtles would pile together in one bed and sleep together on those nights, but those had gone away after a while.

The other agents had given them odd looks at first, but simply shrugged and accepted that they were an experimental squad. After getting used to them, a few had even shared a few facts about themselves with the Pokémon after they learned to write and could respond.

A majority of Team Rocket's operatives had been homeless before being taken in by the leader. And more than a few of those had tried to mug him before he stopped them with his Persian and recruited them.

Those had mentioned that working for Team Rocket wasn't all bad. You do some assignments, pay your dues with the profit from missions, and the Boss promised any and all who worked under him a place in the sun when Team Rocket ruled. That was what most of the agents wanted.

The drill sergeant, Viper – a human they swore had some snake Pokémon blood in him with how intimidating he was – thought they were an experiment that wouldn't last at first, but took them seriously when he saw their near-perfectly synchronized movements to get through the obstacles that still caught some of the human trainees.

While training under Viper, they'd learned Mud-Slap, Protect, and Rock Smash. **(2)** The man's first lesson had been Dig, but they'd demonstrated that they already knew that. When asked how, Alpha had written a note on the notepad he kept in his shell and handed it over, communicating, **"It's how we dug our pitfall traps to mess with the locals before."**

The first was easy to learn since they already had Water Gun to make the ground muddy before picking up some of the new substance to throw. And the other two wouldn't have been so bad if Viper hadn't "motivated" them with his hellish methods.

For Protect, he had muzzled them with water-tight masks that would keep them from using Water Gun to deflect anything. After that, he had them strapped against a wall, limbs and head bound to prevent them from withdrawing into their shells as well. With that done, he began unloading a paintball gun on them and telling them to raise a Protect barrier if they wanted him to stop before the three hour course was done. The projectiles didn't leave any lasting injuries, but they still stung.

Even though they hated every second of it, they couldn't deny that it got results faster. After half an hour of getting pelted by just about every color of pellet their instructor could think of, all four of them could raise the green barrier that took the hits before disappearing.

With that done, Viper had taken them to a different location – without taking the masks off or getting them cleaned up – and had their feet strapped down into metal braces fixed to a platform, leaving their hands free. He then put special restraints on their hands that attached to their palms and forced their fingers to be curled into fists. Once that was done, he wheeled up four carts filled to the brim with rocks that fit in his palm, which immediately told them that they were in for a brutal session.

He had picked up the first one and tossed it up and down while informing them that Protect could only be held up for so long, and Water Gun wouldn't deflect everything. So he would teach them Rock Smash while at the same time improving their tracking, reflexes and hand-eye coordination. Translation: He was going to chuck rocks at them with all his strength at blinding speed until time was up or they could reliably deflect them with Rock Smash; whichever came first.

Regrettably, it took them a few days of going through that—getting injured, recovering and trying again tomorrow. Eventually, though, they mastered that to where they could deflect them for the full three hours. It was grueling and humiliating to tiredly get a quick meal after training and crawl into bed after hosing the rubble off each other with Water Gun. But it made them stronger.

Once they learned Rock Smash, Viper put them back on only physical training drills. When asked why, he said that he wanted them to be a bit tougher for learning the other moves he had in mind. That only made them dread it, but they quickly got over it, figuring that he wouldn't get them injured to the point where they couldn't recover.

From then on, they kept on increasing their athleticism until Viper had them doing dry run heists.

* * *

In a high security tower, where a ceramic statue of the legendary Pokémon Articuno was stored, four sets of eyes looked down from an open air grate above it.

Once they had decided on their course of action, all but one retreated. Alpha jumped down from the hole in the ceiling with a rope looped around his body multiple times before being tied in a firm knot in the front.

Up above, the rope pulled taut as his three teammates stopped his plummet shortly before he reached the statue itself. From then on, it was a gentle descent that put him level with their objective's torso. Undoing the knot, Alpha took the excess and swung around the statue and under its wings, making sure not to touch the floor or walls. The parameters were that they could only touch the statue, and if it fell, they failed the test, so he didn't skimp on making sure it was secure.

Once he felt it wouldn't slip out of its bindings, Alpha climbed back up the rope and joined his teammates at the top to begin pulling the statue up. The vent was large enough to accommodate, since Team Rocket had designed this building specifically for this test.

They pulled it up the hole and two of them, Delta and Gamma, steeled themselves while Alpha and Beta let go to dash and support the statue by the wings. They managed to get it before it fell, and the other two of the team let go of the rope to help. Gamma jumped on Delta's shoulders and grabbed the head while Delta wrapped his arms as much as he could around the body and all four heaved to pull the statue completely in and make it lean towards its front.

Gamma jumped off his teammate to support the head by himself now, while Alpha and Beta helped Delta. He grinned and joked, "[Looks like we've done an _ice_ job!]"

Alpha and Beta groaned while Delta didn't even give his teammate that much, and Alpha said, "[Let's just get this to the drop-off point and finish this little quiz.]"

The Squirtle Squad had managed to carry the statue to the designated goal and got a perfect score on another task. Viper even handed out a rare bit of approval in regards to their teamwork.

After being dismissed, Alpha looked back to his companions as they walked to the cafeteria.

"[We've come a long way, haven't we?]" he asked with a smile.

Gamma laughed with his arms folded behind his head, "[Yeah, Snake-man finally gave us some credit.]"

"[But,]" Beta started, "[is it really okay to live like this? Sure the worst part seems to be over for now, but…]"

"[But what?]" Alpha asked, the group stopping to fully face their teammate.

The unsure Squirtle sighed, "[I mean, I know that humans never really did us any favors, but what if we wind up having to help catch another Pokémon? They won't get the same chance as us.]"

"[You've seen how this place works,]" Alpha reassured. "[They don't hurt any Pokémon that they have their eye on. Not badly, anyway. Team Rocket only catches Pokémon to sell or use. Either way, they need them in good condition.]"

Beta still didn't look quite convinced.

The leader sighed, "[I know it isn't perfect. But it's our situation right now. Might as well get used to it.]"

"[Yes,]" Delta added. "[What matters most is that we stick together.]"

Gamma shrugged nonchalantly, "[I can think of worse fates. Least this place feeds us without us having to steal it.]"

"[…I guess you all are right,]" Beta said after a while. "[We all agreed that day that we'd get through this no matter what so long as we went through it together.]"

Gamma put a hand on his shoulder, "[That we did. So chin up! Today's pastry day at the cafeteria!]"

"[Is food all that's on your mind?]" Delta asked.

"[No,]" he replied while sticking his tongue out, "[sometimes I think about jokes too.]"

Beta chuckled, at least glad that he wasn't going through this alone or with a human.

* * *

The next day saw all the trainee squads gathered in front of Viper and a topographic map with a dot and an X on it. Viper told them that they'd be taking the final test two days later, and that the first leg of it was getting to the building marked on the map. It was expected that they would take at least a day of travel, so each agent had a loaf of bread and a bottle of water as rations. Depending on their performance, some teams would become field agents while others would be held back for more training.

The Squirtle Squad noticed that a river ran right near the quarry where the building was. They would have to swim against the current, but that was child's play for them.

Once everybody was dismissed, Viper pulled them aside for an extra message.

"Regardless of how you do on this test, I'm not going to deploy you into the field yet," he told them. "I have a few more moves that I want to teach you before you start the real missions."

The four Water-types saluted in unison, and drill sergeant nodded back, "Dismissed. Now move out!"

* * *

 **Notes:**

 **1\. This is just speculation on my part since we never see any barracks in the episodes flashing back to the Team Rocket Academy. I figure that Team Rocket would want the agents of its squads to get used to sharing the same room since they'll often be camping together.**

 **2\. Team Rocket is based in Kanto _and_ Johto, so they are perfectly aware of, and thus able to teach, Gen II moves.**

 **The final exam is the same as it was in canon, specifically the Pokémon Chronicles episode "Training Daze," so I don't see the need to write it again. Besides, this is keeping with the update that Matori gave at the start of Chapter 22 that the Squirtle Squad was ready for the final exam.**

 **See you when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


	4. Back at the Corral

**Another kinda short one since it didn't feel like I could make it fit well in the most recent chapter.**

 **Location: Chapter 24-25**

* * *

Back at the Corral

Professor Oak's Pokémon corral stood behind the lab, taking up a large amount of acreage in Pallet town with various man-made environments to accommodate different Pokémon.

Regular fields took up the bulk with a small lake for water Pokémon and a rocky quarry for Pokémon less suited for grassy environments. Fruit trees and berry bushes were abound in the forest area, allowing for Pokémon to forage for their own food if they chose to or receive different kinds of Pokémon food from one of Professor Oak's various aides. And, though rare, any Pokémon that were strict carnivores instead of omnivores were given a special substitute meat. **(1)**

In the quarry, Bulbasaur stood across from Charmander, the latter having requested the Seed Pokémon's help in testing out a counter to powder moves. Since Butterfree was called back to Ash recently, Bulbasaur was the only other Pokémon of Ash's to know one of the moves. The Grass/Poison-type considered it progress that Charmander had asked him for help in his training without it needing to be offered.

"[Now!]" Bulbasaur signaled while spraying Sleep Powder from the opening in his bulb towards his teammate.

In response, the Lizard Pokémon shot a stream of fire near his own feet, the attack forming a ring around him before flaring upwards in a tall column, incinerating any powder that got near.

Bulbasaur stopped his attack, since doing any more would just be wasting energy, and waited for the wall of flames to die down. But he heard the ground burst behind him and realized that the fire was a distraction.

"[Ha-ha!]" Charmander laughed triumphantly as he emerged from the ground. "[That should catch most opponents off guard.]"

The Seed Pokémon turned around and said, "[That it would. You could've used another Flamethrower by the time your Fire Spin wore off.]" At that point, the wall of fire died down and revealed a hole in the middle of the scorched ring of earth.

"[Yeah, I've done some experimenting and I think I can control it with enough practice. So far I'm just working on how long I can keep it up,]" the Fire-type explained excitedly.

Nodding, Bulbasaur smiled at his exuberance and opened his mouth to say something else when he seemed to sense something. His smile was replaced with a curious look as he said, "[Seems I'm needed.]"

Without further preamble, the Grass/Poison-type turned to light and was warped away. Charmander knew from experience that he was pulled to his Poké Ball back at the lab and warped to Ash's side.

'Wonder what's going on?'

Figuring that he could find out by looking for whoever arrived in his sparring partner's place, Charmander climbed out of his hole and made his way from the quarry back to the building in the corral's front.

After reaching the forest area, he climbed up a tree and sighted Jigglypuff floating away from the lab. Dropping back down, the Lizard Pokémon broke into a run before he could lose sight of the most recent addition to the team.

"[Hey! New girl!]" he called.

Jigglypuff looked down and deflated to drop to the ground after spotting him. She seemed to be sulking slightly.

Charmander raised an eyebrow, "[What's wrong? I didn't think you the type to pout. You're way too tough for _that_ behavior.]"

"[Not tough enough, apparently,]" the Balloon Pokémon grumbled while kicking a stray bit of dirt. "[Our Trainer said that there was 'serious trouble' and sent me back for a 'more experienced' Pokémon.]"

'Those three,' the Fire-type realized. He also figured out why he wasn't called since he knew about all of the Butterfree arriving. 'Fire and bugs don't mix well, and my control isn't _that_ good, yet… Somebody could've gotten burnt by accident.'

Shaking off that train of thought, Charmander returned his attention to Jigglypuff, "[Listen, I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. Ash just wants to keep us safe.]"

The Balloon Pokémon didn't look convinced.

"[Anyway,]" he started, figuring what he had to say next would get Jigglypuff's mind off being switched out, "[my sparring partner just got warped away. I need a replacement, if you think you're up for it.]"

Jigglypuff seemed surprised for a moment before she smirked back confidently, "[I recall winning our last match.]"

"[I was holding back my fire last time,]" Charmander informed, letting out a small gout of flame while he talked to demonstrate.

She didn't seem to falter, "[I wouldn't be so confident. Hot air rises, so I can just ride the wind away from your flames.]"

Raising an eyebrow, the Fire-type asked, "[You learn that in the wild?]"

"[Nah, I've read about-]" Jigglypuff abruptly covered her mouth.

"[You can _read_?]" he asked while the Balloon Pokémon looked to be kicking herself for revealing that. "[That's impressive.]" Then Charmander blinked in realization, "[But wait… wouldn't that mean that somebody taught-]"

"[Taught? No,]" she snorted, deciding that there was no point denying it. "[I listened and taught myself so that I could learn more about battling. But fine, yes I had an owner before meeting Ash. No, I _don't_ want to talk about it.]"

The Fire-type shrugged, "[Fair enough. I don't like thinking about my last owner, either. Anyway, I won't tell anybody about your reading ability if you don't.]"

"[Enough talking!]" Jigglypuff decided while jumping away to give a fair distance for the start. "[Time to battle!]"

Charmander smiled as his flame blazed slightly larger in excitement. He considered a good fight his reward for cheering up a good fighter.

* * *

After the spar, which Charmander managed to win by getting Jigglypuff into a bear hug after forcing her to flee towards the ground with his flames, the two Pokémon went their separate ways to continue training.

The Fire-type picked up from where he left off earlier in his routine, moving on to hand-to-hand combat. He fought against imaginary opponents, practicing his strikes, dodges, rolls and counterattacks. Fighting Jigglypuff yesterday with the techniques had piqued his interest in potential surprise attacks, so he continued developing his martial arts.

Once that was done, Charmander worked on his flames, testing his limits on how hot he could make them and how long he could keep them up. After finding his upper limit on how long he could hold Fire Spin to be around ten minutes – a full minute and a half longer than his previous record – and his Flamethrower count was fifteen in rapid succession, the Lizard Pokémon curled up in the quarry for a nap.

When he woke up, he noticed that the sun was setting and moved on to the last leg of his training he had planned. If it went poorly, he could always stop for the day and wouldn't lose that much time.

That decision led the Fire-type to the pond where he found Horsea and attempted to persuade him into hitting him with a water attack.

"[I'm telling you, I'll be fine,]" Charmander reassured in what he hoped was a gentle tone. "[It's just a little water.]"

Horsea still hesitated from the edge of the water where the Fire-type had found him. The Lizard Pokémon had heard from Kingler who heard from Butterfree, who heard from Pikachu, that there was a Sandshrew that could withstand water out there, and he wanted to start building up a resistance too.

Not with his tail, of course. He wasn't quite willing to risk that yet.

Plus, the Dragon Pokémon always seemed a little too gentle to him. In Charmander's opinion, that sort of attitude would get his heart broken unless he toughened up. The Fire-type internally acknowledged that he was half-speaking from experience, but shrugged it off in favor of trying to convince Horsea again.

Tentacool emerged from the water, to both their surprise. Still, she held up a tentacle in greeting and said, "[How about I do it?]"

"[Because I want a less powerful attack to see how I react to it,]" he explained. "[Horsea is,]" Charmander paused for the briefest of moments as the Jellyfish Pokémon leveled a glare at him from behind her fellow Water-type, "[more cautious. One bubble, come on.]"

"[Mm…]" Horsea dithered before slightly nodding. "[All right, only one.]"

Leaning his head up to aim, a singular bubble floated forward towards Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon puffing out his chest. It popped harmlessly against him with a sizzle.

Charmander grunted, "[Hm, maybe we should've started with Water Gu-]"

A slight splash of water interrupted him as it washed over the front of his face and body, courtesy of one of Tentacool's tentacles. This time, he visibly shuddered before taking a deep breath and letting it out through his nostrils. His tail flame blazed slightly larger and the runoff liquid steamed before boiling off his skin in a small cloud of steam.

"[Haa… That's one advantage I have over Ground-types]," he panted, actually a little winded, to his surprise. "[Water boils with enough heat.]"

Tentacool set a wet tentacle on his shoulder, making him shudder again as she replied, "[A _lot_ of heat. That was barely a splash—imagine that in a concentrated stream, soaking more of you as it kept up, more water for you to try boiling.]" She patted him twice before retracting the limb, "[You have your work cut out for you.]"

"[Tentacool!]" Horsea protested. "[You didn't have to be so harsh!]"

Charmander spoke up, forcing himself to stand upright, "[No, that was a perfect gauge. I have an idea of the road ahead of me now, and this is the first step. Life's a harsh journey, Horsea.]"

"[Besides,]" Tentacool added in a low tone to the Dragon Pokémon, "[imagine what he'd do if he tried this alone. We'd probably find him passed out in the bank of the pond.]"

"[I heard that,]" The Fire-type responded in slight irritation. Then he turned to leave, "[Now, I'm going to go warm back up with some training in the quar-]"

Charmander abruptly stopped as he saw Bulbasaur, Jigglypuff and Kingler headed over. If the Seed Pokémon was already back so soon, it was probably to explain what happened, and from the grim look on his face, it wasn't good news.

* * *

"[And they found out that it was a trick,]" Bulbasaur finished. "[I'm not sure exactly what happened after that, but I heard a lot of slamming sounds from my Poké Ball before Ash moved on.]"

The gathered Pokémon had various reactions. Jigglypuff looked shocked that it happened, Kingler looked like he wanted to be there for Ash, Charmander was silent with his expression not giving away anything, and Tentacool was more focused on comforting Horsea, who had started crying.

"[Is Ash okay?]" the Jellyfish Pokémon asked.

Before Bulbasaur could answer, Charmander abruptly stood up and turned around, heading away.

"[I've heard what I needed to,]" he announced. "[I'm going back to training.]"

"[Charmander!]" Horsea scolded. "[Is training all you care about? What about Ash?]"

For an instant, Charmander's tail flame blazed hugely as he stopped walking before he brought it under control again.

"[I didn't know Butterfree all that well, but he's Ash's Pokémon the same as the rest of us. More than that, he was the first Pokémon that Ash caught. I don't need to hear how Ash took this, I already _know_.]"

"[Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go _do something_ about today instead of sitting around _crying about it_.]" He turned to glance over his shoulder, his expression fixed as he was visibly straining to keep his temper in check, "[In other words, I need to _burn_ something, and if I don't get to that quarry soon, it's going to be _trees_ instead of _rocks_ , _okay_?]"

With that said, he left through the trees, his tail flame occasionally flickering and blazing larger before returning to its ordinary size.

* * *

Bulbasaur sighed at Charmander's departure, wondering whether it set back his developing bond with the team. Horsea seemed to have been left stunned by the Fire-type's reply.

But, regardless, he said, "[To answer your question, Tentacool: No, Ash is _not_ okay. I believe that he can be again, given time, but he's not taking today well at all.]"

He turned around to leave as well, "[If you'll excuse me, it's been a long and exhausting day for me. I'm going to get some rest.]"

* * *

"[You,]" Jigglypuff suddenly said, pointing at Kingler. The Pincer Pokémon rasped in surprise before she continued, "[I need to get stronger, fast.]" The Balloon Pokémon bowed her head, "[Train me, please. Any moves that I can learn from you will help.]"

Kingler nodded and led her away, her gait somber as she looked to the ground. Evidently things were more serious than she thought on this team. It wasn't just going to be battle and glory. There was loss, and more than just losing battles. Others were at stake too.

Charmander's words from earlier echoed through her mind, _"[Ash just wants to keep us safe.]"_

The Balloon Pokémon curled the ends of her hands like fists, 'I won't hold everyone back!'

"[This is far enough! Let's fight!]"

Kingler turned around and said, "[All right. Are there any moves that you know you can learn from me?]"

"[Water Gun seems like a good start,]" she said, recalling the information from past investigations. She had swiped a card with her moves on it from a Trainer once upon a time and had long since memorized the ones she could learn.

Even if the _way_ she learned to read was rather undignified, she'd use anything she could to get stronger.

* * *

"[Horsea,]" Tentacool gently prompted, managing to get the other Pokémon's attention. "[Listen, I'll stay with you for the night if you need me to, but I have training of my own to get to tomorrow. If I can evolve, then I can battle on land more easily by storing more water in my body.]"

"[Isn't there some other way?]" the Dragon Pokémon asked. "[Maybe if we talked to their Pokémon-]"

She sighed slightly before interrupting, "[I know you don't like fighting, and that's your choice, but this is mine. Some people and Pokémon can't be reasoned with. Deep down, you know it as well as me. Sometimes there _isn't_ a third option; it's either fight or hide. Back then, I hid with the rest of my clan that decided to leave our old home. This time, I'm going to fight for our Trainer.]"

Horsea stared at her for a moment before leaving. Tentacool sighed and sank under the waves to ponder how she was going to train. The best way was with an opponent, especially if that Pokémon knew a move you were trying to learn, but the only battle-ready Water Pokémon of Ash's at the corral was Kingler.

'I could try getting a spar out of some of the other Water Pokémon around here,' she mused. 'Maybe they can show me something new.'

* * *

Horsea swam towards the center of the lake, his mind heavy with thoughts about what he'd heard.

'Team Rocket… How could they do something so heartless? _Why_ are they doing evil deeds? I don't understand…'

Tentacool's words from earlier continually rang inside his head, and he looked down in frustration. The Dragon Pokémon knew very well that he was by far the weakest of Ash's Pokémon since he didn't battle. Even if he wanted to fight Team Rocket, it probably wouldn't make any difference.

 _"[I'm going to_ do something _about today instead of sitting around_ crying about it _.]"_

Flinching at the spiteful message, the Water-type looked into the sky, stars coming out as the sun slipped further down the horizon. His non-violent ideals were clashing with his desire to help. Horsea wished that he'd been born with the power to heal so that he could help without hurting anybody.

'What can I do?' he wondered. Contemplating the water, he noticed the floral scarf Ash had given him and nuzzled one of the ends with his mouth, 'As one of Ash's Pokémon, what am I _supposed_ to do?'

* * *

Unknown to Charmander, a set of eyes was watching his journey from the pond to the quarry, keeping his distance since he didn't want to be spotted. From how the Fire-type's feet left footprints of dried grass and his tail flame was slowly growing in size, the last thing he wanted was to give that rage a target.

Once he reached the quarry, Charmander wasted no time in shooting a blaze of fire that circled around and created a massive wall of flames around the area he was in. The heat was so intense that the watcher had to back away as the display lit up the night. The light also blinded him, so he slipped his sunglasses down over his eyes to better see. Luckily, Professor Oak had let him keep them.

The rocky soil and boulders began to steam as they dried out from the intense heat, and the Lizard Pokémon was spitting Flamethowers at every surface around him, patches of rock glowing red for a moment during the direct exposure. Once he stopped, they began fading, but he began lashing out at the rocks, trying to cut them up with Slash before beating them with his bare fists when the scratching proved ineffective.

Throughout the aggressive deeds, Charmander was roaring out in fury, apparently venting frustrations. Even though he couldn't understand him, the watcher guessed that it was nothing good. He wondered if he was mentioned or if something had happened to Charmander's current Trainer.

Still, he'd never seen such anger from the Fire-type before. Charmander had always tried to stay positive before.

"Before…" he muttered, rather confident that the Pokémon wouldn't hear him over his rage. Looking back, it was always Charmander that helped him stay positive after a loss. He had faith, until he lost it. "Charmander…"

"Spying on Charmander again?"

Lurching violently in surprise, he wheeled around, lifting his sunglasses to see Professor Oak staring at the inferno in the quarry. The flames lit up the man's face as he shaded his eyes with one hand in order to see.

Still trying to keep his voice down, he clutched his chest and half-shouted, "Bleedin' _hell_ , old man, y'nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Language," the professor idly chastised without taking his eyes off the blaze. "I came over to see what this was about, but it seems I'll have to investigate through other sources. There's no getting through that Fire Spin. Charmander's always been zealous about training, but this goes beyond that. It's time I called Ash and had a little chat with him about his journey."

He turned around with his hands folded behind his back, "You're coming with me tomorrow. A visit to Delia should get me his number, but I would hardly be so rude as to make it my only reason. Some tea and a chat would also be warranted. For now, we get some sleep. So long as Charmander isn't hurting any other Pokémon, he'll burn himself out eventually."

"Do I _hafta_ come…? She doesn't exactly like me."

"I _still_ don't trust you to be left alone for an extended period of time," Oak reminded. "If you want my trust back, you'll have to earn it, Damian."

Letting out a sigh, the teen shoved his hands in his pockets and followed along, not really in any position to complain. The professor had come when he called, vouched for him improving given another chance and time, gotten him off with a suspension instead of a lost license and taken responsibility for him during his probation.

He remembered the stern lecture he'd gotten – twice to make sure it stuck – about the actions that led him to getting jailed and nearly losing his license. While Professor Oak was willing to believe that _he_ believed a Rocket agent really did steal his Pokémon, he said that it was no excuse for his treatment of them.

Damian wasn't allowed to have Pokémon while under his sentence, and he wasn't even allowed to handle the Pokémon on Professor Oak's corral, just supervise and keep track of the plants and fruit trees.

While taken in and put to work, he had been told to "think about what he'd done." It had been a little under a week since he'd arrived in Pallet Town, and he still didn't get what the professor meant by that. All he could figure was that it was supposed to mean _something_ , and Oak wouldn't tell him what it was.

A slight suspicion told him that he'd been onto something while watching Charmander, so he resolved to continue doing so later.

Either way, he was suspended from Pokémon training for ten years, so he had time to puzzle it out. And even if he didn't like the work, he did it anyway.

Damian owed a lot to the old man, and his disapproval stung more than his parents' ever had.

* * *

Inside the barrier of fire, Charmander kept punching the rock, despite his knuckles turning bruised, and wound up for one more blow before his hand was flooded with new power and the boulder split, a chunk reduced to smaller rocks. As the fragments fell down, the Fire-type was panting and he looked at his bloodied hand, concentrating again to see a glow suffuse it. Testing it out, he smashed one of the smaller pieces of the boulder.

It felt good, even better than releasing his flames. He imagined defeating each and every Pokémon of Team Rocket, along with the agents themselves as he smashed more rocks and eventually moved back to the main boulders for more objects to vent on.

His rage hadn't cooled in the slightest and even seemed to be burning hotter and hotter, swelling within his chest. The Lizard Pokémon felt for Butterfree's plight, but as he said, he didn't know the Bug Pokémon that well.

What he was so furious about was the effect it would have on Ash.

Charmander _knew_ that Ash cared for each of his Pokémon very much. Such deep heartbreak inflicted on one would destroy him—make sure that he was never quite the same again.

'Just like the last one,' a cynical voice whispered in his head.

Silencing it in his fury, Charmander instead shouted while continuing to smash his fists into the surrounding boulders, "[No! Ash is different! He's stronger than… than Damian! He'll survive this! I'll make sure of it!]" Realizing that other Pokémon on the team were probably consoling Ash right now, he added, "[ _We'll_ make sure of it!]

"[And _those three_ will pay for this!]" he vowed, his rage so violent that he didn't notice the glow from his fists becoming muted by the flash of white light from his body. Ash's Pokémon continued leveling the terrain around him and barely noticed that his arms had lengthened and changed from orange to red as he smashed a boulder to rubble with new energy surging through him.

Even when he finally looked at himself, it just made him more excited as he thought of the power at his disposal now to better defeat Team Rocket—strength to fight, more heat to his flames. The Fire Spin surrounding his area of the quarry wouldn't die out for well over an hour after that.

* * *

 **Notes:**

 **1\. In RyoshiMorino's Pokémon fanfics there's genuine meat made from Pokémon set aside for such resources and a synthesized meat substitute. I decided to use the idea as well. Synthesized meat can have a variety of flavors and be modeled into a variety of different shapes and textures with different flavors, simulating various foods including, but not limited to, roast beef, seared salmon, fried chicken and steamed crab.**

 **See you when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


End file.
